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Defense Says Cops In Corruption Probe Victimized By A Liar

May 16, 2000|By From Tribune News Services.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — The first three officers charged in the city's massive police-corruption probe are victims of a lying ex-cop whose status as super-informant has led authorities to treat him like a rock star, defense lawyers claimed Monday.

As the officers pleaded not-guilty to perjury and falsifying a police report, their lawyers denounced ex-Officer Rafael Perez, whose allegations of beatings, shootings and frame-ups have led to the dismissal of cases against 80 defendants, many of whom had pleaded guilty.

At least 70 officers have come under scrutiny since Perez, hoping for a lighter sentence on charges that he stole cocaine from a police evidence locker, began telling investigators last year of wrongdoing in the Rampart station's anti-gang unit.

The case against Sgt. Edward Ortiz, Sgt. Brian Liddy and Officer Paul Harper involves the alleged planting of a gun on a gang member in 1996.

Attorney Barry Levin, who represents Ortiz, and other defense lawyers criticized authorities for giving too much credence to the claims of Perez, who was sentenced to 5 years in prison but was given blanket immunity for abuses he described.